A few weeks ago right before our Sunday church service, I saw a young woman go into the sanctuary to talk with Pastor Keith. She had been crying. He went with her to his office, where he talked with her until just before he began the Sunday service. He started the service by announcing that she had come to our congregation to ask for money, because she was destitute, had spent the night outside of a shelter the night before with her two small children, and was cold, hungry and broke. The Pastor announced to the congregation that he would take up a special collection, and people reached into their pockets for extra money.
Since I used to work at a homeless shelter, I went to where this young woman was waiting in our library. I said to her that she did not have to talk with me, but that I would just sit there and keep her company. Actually, I wanted also to see for myself that she would not "bolt" or act out in some funny way. She didn't. She said that she would "like to talk to me". She cried, and talked about the shelter the night before and what a horrid experience it had been for her and her two small children. Another woman in our church who is a social worker came with the money that had been collected and counted: over $500.
The young lady cried and cried, thanked us, hugged us, and I walked her out to the car where she said a "friend she had met at the shelter, whose wife was now watching her kids" was waiting for her. I checked out the car, which was full of clothing and household items, and talked to the man who was driving briefly. He thanked me. I told him to be careful and to watch out for her. I thought that we had done as well as we could for these poor unfortunate...
scammers. Today this appeared in the Boston Globe. These people have been to many, many churches and organizations in the north Boston area, and scammed everyone for thousands of dollars. As it says in the article, they were really good! I never saw anyone cry like that on cue before.
Today our pastor said that we would all feel bad, that he was embarrassed, and that it would be hard for us to not to feel angry. Yet, he said that Christ wants us to take care of others, and that if asked if we had been bilked, we would say "Yes, and we prayed for them." And we did pray. And we all felt sad and unhappy that such a thing could take place right in our own church, in our neighborhood, in our town. But it did. They had me fooled, they had him fooled, they had many others fooled, and in the end...they are still very unfortunate and in need of Christ's, and our, forgiveness.
